In the past several years compact discs have been replacing phonograph records and magnetic tapes as a means of capturing sound recordings for playback due to the clarity of the sound reproduction and the resistance of the disc to external scratching and marring during handling thereof. Even though these compact discs are more resistive to scratching than phonograph records and/or magnetic tapes, it is desirable to occasionally clean the same to maintain the excellent sound reproduction characteristics.
It is well known in the cleaning of such compact discs that the cleaning motion should be in a radial direction across the circumferencially extending grooves, which are arranged similar to the grooves of a phonograph record, to prevent damaging the microscropic grooves formed therein. Several devices have been produced for achieving such cleaning action by rotating the disc or moving a cleaning pad across the compact disc or a combination of both by a crank and lever arm mechanism. Although these prior devices may provide a satisfactory cleaning solution, they are relatively expensive, bulky and cumbersome to operate and to store.
Therefore the need has existed for an improved cleaning device for compact discs which provides the desired radial cleaning motion of the pad across the circumferential grooves in a simple and inexpensive device, which device preferably is of the same size and shape as a usual compact disc storage container enabling the device to be stored with the compact discs in a usual storage device.